Nazism as a Religion

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Was Nazism a political movement that adapted available religious discourse and motivations but only instrumentally or was it the this-worldly fulfillment of a religious agenda?Was Nazism Religious?Continuation of Christian IdeologiesNazism as purely political structureHitler was operating in the "here and now" and was not concerned with anything besides politicsLate 1800's saw a resurgence of occult thought and pagan belief within European societyChristianNeo-PaganNon-Religious"Those who see in National Socialism nothing more than a political movement know scarcely anything of it. It is more even than a religion: it is the will to create mankind anew." - RauschningOccult influences on HitlerHelena Blavatsky*Influential occult writer. Brought attention of, The Protocols of Zion, to EuropeIn her writings she introduced the idea of root races, a new extension of Darwin's evolutionary theory recalling places like Lemuria and Atlantis as homes to early hominids.*Although there is little evidence to show Blavatsky's direct influence on Hitler if there was any at all, her writings would have been well read by members of the Thule Society which affected Hitler greatly.Alfred RosenbergDietrich EckartRudolf HessKarl HausoferRise of Occultism in EuropeThe Thule Society and the Founding of the Nazi PartyCo-option of Existing Christian Structures and Oppression of other Competing ReligionsMein Kampf - The Nazi BibleMessiah HitlerHeinrich HimmlerSo WhatPopulace was still partially Christian, Protestant, and Catholic

Religions besides Judaism were largely ignored The Sig Rune was adopted by the Himmler's SS Was Nazism a political movement that adapted available religious discourse and motivations but only instrumentally or was it the this-worldly fulfillment of a religious agenda?Ger-Rune used by the Waffen SSWolfsangel adopted by the Dutch SSElf-Rune given to high ranking officials in the Nazi PartyLeben-Rune or "Life" Rune, was adopted by the Lebensborn society. This society was in control of getting women pregnant by SS officers in order to create the "Master Aryan Race"Toten-Rune or Death-Rune was used in place of the cross on Waffen SS graves as well as the Lebens-Rune to show date of birth and deathThe Hagal-Rune was symbolic of Nazi Pagan faith meaning "Heil". “The swastika and the Hagall-Rune represent our unshakable faith in the ultimate victory of our philosophy.” -Heinrich HimmlerOdal-Rune was symbolically used to mean "Blood and Soil", an ideology focused on ethnicity and racial descent. Tyr-Rune or Kampf-Rune meaning Battle or Arrow. The symbol was used in many youth groups and army recruiting stations. Hitler is said to have denounced Pagan religions and cult lodgesHitler denounced Religious power in order to gain more central power within the StateWriters told tales about an old Aryan race to the north which migrated to create the great civilizations of Asia and the Middle EastFounded in August 1919, a new sect of the German-OrdenOccult Lodge society which perpetuated racial ideologies against Jews and was a direct opponent of emerging Communist parties within Germany and AustriaRight-hand man to Hitler

Helped write Mein Kampf while in prison with Hitler

Nazi Party "Philosopher"

Believed in Occult conspiracies and magic

Wrote "The Myth of the Twentieth Century"Arguably more important than Mein Kampf in declaring anti-semitic party stanceArguably most influential figure on HitlerTaught Hitler how to speak passionately and how to use body language in a meaningful wayPublisher and Editor of, In Plain German, a widely circulated anti-Semitic journalWas known as a Master of Magic Teacher of Rudolf Hess

Had influences on Hitler through Hess Was instrumental in grafting the alliance with JapanLeader of the SSOccult FanaticConducted Rituals at Wewelsburg CastleCreated Ahnenerbe, an Occult think-tank which would lead expeditions all over Asia to find traces of Aryan RaceReplacement of Religious holidays with Nazi Pagan ritualsSS shows that Christian marriage was being denounced, weddings were officiated by officers and a name giving ceremony was held under a Hitler altarChurches were not banned forthwith in order to appease the populationMein Kampf was written in order to promote a new race ideology Denunciation of a Christian God and instead replacing the Aryan "ubermench" as the embodiment of a new GodWhat made the Nazi's Pagan?Nazism is a form of neo-paganism because they political discourse involves a return to Volkish modes of life An adherence to a code of conduct in which Aryan's are held in the utmost regard while those deemed unfavorable, the Jews, were oppressed and brutally murdered through genocide Belief in "Root Races" and the Occult created a religious dialogue which would have been finally adopted by the populace in replacement of old Christian ideologies Hitlers insistence that Nazism was about the here and now, about life on earth, and not about the future, or some possible other-worldy eternal life, effectively destroys the concept of Nazism as a political religion, since religion is nothing unless it involves a belief in the supernatural and in an internal, unchanging God or Gods. (Evans, Pg 3)BibliographyNazism, Christianity, and Political Religion: A Debate, Evans, Richard pp 5-7

"Hitler & Triumph of the Will: A Nazi Religion in the Catholic Style" in Undergraduate Quarterly, September/November 2004, page 147The Thule SocietyThe way we understand and interpret the Nazi's needs to be fundamentally changed in order to acknowledge the occult and its influences upon members within the party and the party itselfBased on my findings, the Nazi's may have been more religiously founded than once thought, their ideologies about race bordering on the religious implications of powerful deities (the Aryan race)Catholicism and Nazism have a more complicated relationship than some might think. Hitler both despised and admired various aspects of the Roman Catholic Church. Though the Nazi movement was superficially areligious, even anti-religious, the Nazi's greatest piece of propaganda and self-aggrandizement, Leni Riefenstahl's 1934 film about the Nuremberg Party Rally, Triumph of the Will, is in many ways profoundly religious. The film both makes use of Catholic religious imagery and draws on the Catholic sacramental tradition to give dignity and legitimacy to its construction of Adolf Hitler as the "god" of the Nazi movement... Since the beginning, Catholicism and Nazism had an uncomfortable coexistence. (Biskupska pg 147)In fact, when the Nazis first celebrated Christmas in Munich (in 1920), they did so as a solstice celebration, and the report of the event in their own newspaper noted that the dire situation in which Germany found itself had been "prophesied in the Edda and in the teachings of the Armanen in ancient times." They were referring here to passages on the apocalyptic Ragnarok or "twilight of the gods" in the poetic Edda. (Koehne pg 2)"The man who misjudges and disregards the racial laws actually forfeits the happiness that seemsdestined to be his. He thwarts the triumphal march of the best race and hence also theprecondition for all human progress, and remains, in consequence burdened with all thesensibility of man, in the animal realm of helpless misery."-Hitler, Mein Kampf pg 211